Since 1945, fluoride, neither a nutrient nor essential for
healthy teeth, has been added to US public water supplies without considering
that fluoride could harm other body parts, especially the brain. Now over 100
animal and 45+ human studies link fluoride to brain deficits.

Dr.
Grandjean told Ireland's Hot Press that “fluorides are known to
cause brain toxicity and neurological symptoms in humans” and fluoride
substances were “known by 2012 to cause adverse effects on the human nervous
system”.

Vested interests caused decades to pass
before children were protected from the brain-damaging effects of lead exposure
reported in the literature. We unnecessarily lost a generation to lead-induced
brain damage, reports Grandjean.

“Having studied brain toxicity for 30 years, and having become
more and more concerned about the consequences of chemical brain damage, I
realized that I must speak up…brain drain can be easily overlooked, and it may
appear to be silent, as it is frequently not accompanied by a formal medical
diagnosis,” writes Grandjean.

Babies only have one chance to develop their brains.
“Brains need vigorous protection” says
Grandjean.

Chemical brain drain should not be disregarded. The
average IQ deficit in children exposed to increased levels of fluoride in
drinking water was found to correspond to about 7 points – a sizable difference,
he says.

When Grandjean’s research team published a
careful review of studies (meta-analysis) linking fluoride to children’s lower
IQ, worried
fluoridation promoters and regulators immediately and incorrectly claimed that
only excessive exposures are toxic, the effect is insignificant, decades of
fluoridation would have revealed brain deficits (although nobody looked, yet),
and that it was probably lead and arsenic that lowered IQ, not fluoride.
Example here

“When such a misleading fuselage is
aimed at the authors of a careful meta-analysis of 27 different studies, what
would it take to convince critics like that,” asks Grandjean.

After letters from fluoridation
protectionists were published in Lancet Neurology criticizing
Grandjean’s findings for erroneous reasons, he responded in a letter:

“The fact that a trace element has
beneficial effects at low doses in specific tissues does not negate the
possibility that neurotoxicity might also be occurring, especially at increased
levels of exposure. Indeed, concerns
about fluoride toxicity were already raised by a National Research Council
expert committee."

Grandjean writes that “emerging evidence on developmental
neurotoxicity makes it clear that the timing of exposure is also of great
importance, especially during highly vulnerable windows of brain development.
Due to the growing evidence on adverse effects."

Grandjean’s isn’t the first to indict
fluoride as neurotoxic. Valdez-Jimenez, et al. review of brain/fluoride studies
concludes “The prolonged ingestion
of fluoride may cause significant damage to health and
particularly to the nervous system,” according to their
review of studies ( Neurologia (June
2011).

The research team
reports, “It is important to be aware of this serious problem and avoid the use
of toothpaste and items that contain fluoride, particularly
in children as they are more susceptible to the toxic effects of fluoride.”

“Fluoride can be toxic by
ingesting one part per million (ppm), and the effects are
not immediate, as they can take 20 years or more to become evident,” they
write.

Valdez-Jimenez, et al.
describe studies that show fluoride induces changes in the brain’s physical
structure and biochemistry which affects the neurological
and mental development of individuals including cognitive processes, such as
learning and memory.

“Fluoride is capable of crossing the blood-brain
barrier, which may cause biochemical and functional changes in the nervous
system during pregnancy, since the fluoride accumulates in brain tissue before birth,”
they write.*

Animal studies show fluoride’s toxic brain
effects include classic brain abnormalities found in patients with Alzheimer’s
disease, Valdez-Jimenez’s team reports.

A different research team (Tang et al.) reported
in 2008 that “A qualitative review of the studies found a consistent and strong
association between the exposure to fluoride and low IQ.” (Biological Trace Element Research)

In 2006, the U.S.National Research Council‘s (NRC)
expert fluoride panel reviewed fluoride toxicology and concluded, “It’s
apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the
brain.” And, “Fluorides also increase the production of free radicals in the
brain through several different biological pathways. These changes have a bearing
on the possibility that fluorides act to increase the risk of developing
Alzheimer’s disease.”

OnApril 12, 2010,Timemagazine
listed fluoride as one of the “Top Ten Common Household Toxins” and described
fluoride as both “neurotoxic and potentially tumorigenic if swallowed.”

Phyllis Mullenix, Ph.D., was the one of the
first U.S. scientist to find
evidence that fluoride damages the brain. She published her animal study in a
respected peer-reviewed scientific journal in 1995

and then was fired for
doing so.

Vyvyan Howard, M.D., Ph.D., a prominent fetal
toxicologist and past-President of the International Society of Doctors for the
Environment, said that current brain/fluoride research convinces him that we
should stop water fluoridation.

August 2014, Paul Connett, PhD, co-author of "The Case Against Fluoride,"
and Exec Director of The Fluoride Action Network, wrote: "As of May 2014, 46 studies have investigated the relationship between
fluoride and human intelligence, and 31 studies have investigated the relationship between fluoride and learning/memory in
animals. Of these investigations, 39 of the 46 human studies (of over 11,000
children) have found that elevated fluoride exposure is associated with reduced IQ,
which is consistent with the fact that 29 of 31 studies have found that fluoride
exposure impairs the learning and/or memory capacity of animals.

It is very unlikely that 39 studies finding reduced IQ can all be a random
fluke. The question, therefore, is less whether fluoride reduces IQ, but at what dose, at what time, and how this dose and
time varies based on an individual’s nutritional status, health status, and
exposure to other contaminants (e.g., aluminum, arsenic, lead, etc). Of
particular concern is fluoride’s effect on children born to women with
suboptimal iodine

intake during the time of pregnancy, and/or fluoride’s effects on infants
with suboptimal iodine intake themselves."